Granted cars today do pollute but so do other things we don't see everyday.
Ocean Going Cargo Ships use the dirtest fuel on the planet period known as "No. 6 Fuel Oil" or more common "Bunker C Oil", 45,000 to 27,000 ppm of Sulfer Dioxide thats 2.7 to 4.5 % a stagering amount with no restrictions at all. Simular fuels used on land are max. 25 ppm to be decreased to 15 ppm by 2012. Sulfer Dioxide is the leading cause of "Asid Rain" thats going on in Asian Shipping lanes today ontop of the largest ECO system of the world, with the added green house gasses they create destroying our oceans very life.
One Ship -
1) uses between 25 and 100 gal per min at a idle
2) they carry between 1,000,000 and 3,000,000 gal of "DIRTY" fuel
3) 24 hours of operation is equal to between 300,000 and 500,000 average midsize cars of pollution
4) there are over 20,000 ships operating at any given time worldwide
5) thats between 6,000,000,000 and 10,000,000,000 average midsize cars of pollution in 24 hours.
So the next time you by something not from the USA and it could have been shipped here via the Sea, whats the real cost? That compact flourescent lamp from Asia that saves you $2.00 over 5 years is it really worth it.
I know that the little country that only has bananas could be crushed by changing this cheep I mean really cheep fuel source but this all needs to be put into prespective.
http://www.usor.com/pdfs/msds/marine/Bunker_C.pdfhttp://www.labo-analytika.com/html/bunker_c_spec.htmlhttp://www.edf.org/documents/3807_smogalert_2004060.pdfhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-08-30-ship-pollution_x.htm